STUDY: New E15 Gas Can Ruin Auto Engines. “In 2010 and 2011, EPA gave the green light to use E15 – the 15 percent ethanol gasoline blend – in model-year-2001-and-later cars and some other vehicles. EPA’s action was irresponsible. EPA knew E15 vehicle testing was ongoing but decided not to wait for the results. Why did EPA move forward prematurely? Part of the answer may be the need to raise the permissible concentration level of ethanol so that greater volumes could be used, as required by the federal Renewable Fuel Standard. Most gasoline sold today is an E10 blend, but rising volume requirements under the law can’t be met much longer without going to higher blends.”

Reader Bill Richmond emails: “Feds are pushing E15, not because of green fantasies about E15 itself, but because the existing formulas (mostly E10) weren’t using enough ethanol to meet the mandated amount of ethanol use. Central planning failures always lead to more central planning. It’s a beautiful thing. Well, not really.” Except for central planners.

THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT GUN CONFISCATION IS THAT THE GOVERNMENT IS ABOUT AS GOOD AT THAT AS IT IS AT EVERYTHING ELSE: California unable to disarm 19,700 felons and mentally ill people. “California authorities are empowered to seize weapons owned by convicted felons and people with mental illness, but staff shortages and funding cuts have left a backlog of more than 19,700 people to disarm, a law enforcement official said Tuesday.”

WAIT, I THOUGHT THESE STORIES WERE JUST RIGHT-WING FANTASIES: Home invasion suspect arrested after woman opens fire.

CHANGE: Rising Financial Burdens for Middle-Aged Americans.

With an aging population and a generation of young adults struggling to achieve financial independence, the burdens and responsibilities of middle-aged Americans are increasing. Nearly half (47%) of adults in their 40s and 50s have a parent age 65 or older and are either raising a young child or financially supporting a grown child (age 18 or older). And about one-in-seven middle-aged adults (15%) is providing financial support to both an aging parent and a child. . . .

One likely explanation for the increase in the prevalence of parents providing financial assistance to grown children is that the Great Recession and sluggish recovery have taken a disproportionate toll on young adults. In 2010, the share of young adults who were employed was the lowest it had been since the government started collecting these data in 1948. Moreover, from 2007 to 2011 those young adults who were employed full time experienced a greater drop in average weekly earnings than any other age group.

Unless the economy starts growing, this won’t change. We’ve got a Junior Squeeze and a Senior Squeeze, and both are contributing to the middle-aged feeling stretched.

Related: Obama Keeps Us In Our Parents’ Homes.

OF COURSE RAPISTS WANT WOMEN DISARMED. WHY ARE DEMOCRATS PRO-RAPE? Gun Control Activist Protesting How Easy it is to Buy Guns, is a Rapist.

POTEMKIN SENTIMENT: It turns out that Giffords’s speech therapist wrote the note, not Giffords herself — and that Americans for Responsible Solution’s reference to “Gabby Giffords’ handwritten testimony at the Senate Judiciary Committee” meant “handwritten” in a general sense.

But then, as Mark Tapscott noted, it’s just one Potemkin village after another.

NATION’S BIGGEST GUN STORE CALLS FOR REVOLT. Well, not exactly. More like political action.

STICK WITH BURGERS AND FRIES. FOR YOUR HEALTH! Study finds leafy green vegetables top source of food poisoning.

BUT OF COURSE: Dolce & Gabbana Plans To Release Perfume For Babies.

PHOTO: An early beta-test for the Borg.

SCHOOL SEX SCANDALS IN THE 21ST CENTURY: “When I was young, a school sex scandal was when someone got some. Times evidently have changed.”

AT AMAZON, coupons galore in Home Improvement.

WAIT, I THOUGHT THIS KIND OF THING NEVER HAPPENED: Home Invasion Suspect Dies Of Gunshot Wound. “One man was killed and another shot in the leg when they, along with three others, allegedly participated in a home invasion Monday evening where the residents fought back. . . . Fairborn Police Sgt. Paul Hicks said the only motive they’ve uncovered was that the subjects intended to rob the home. Two Wright State University students who live at 1006 Victoria Ave. were home when the intruders entered. Trent Seitz, 21, reportedly struggled with the men and was ordered to the floor. He called out for his roommate, Christopher Muse, who told police that he grabbed a gun and fired at the men.”

CHANGE: “Did you know that the Earth is getting greener, quite literally? Satellites are now confirming that the amount of green vegetation on the planet has been increasing for three decades. This will be news to those accustomed to alarming tales about deforestation, over-development and ecosystem destruction.”

KURT SCHLICHTER: Ignore Lena Dunham’s ‘Girls’ at Your Own Peril, Conservatives. “Will we finally heed Andrew Breitbart’s warnings about the importance of taking pop culture seriously or just keep fiddling as the culture burns?”

SAYUNCLE: Advice on a “good first gun.”

JACK SHAFER: Unsolicited advice for New Republic owner Chris Hughes. “If you think I’m being unfair to Hughes — and don’t put it past me — read his introductory note to readers in the redesigned magazine, where he deploys the same, lifeless voice. . . . This is a memo that every newspaper and magazine editor since the invention of the telegraph could have written. And has!”

MENENDEZ UPDATE: Menendez Admits Flying to Dominican Republic on Donor’s Private Plane.

I’M APPALLED AT THIS EVIDENCE OF INSTITUTIONAL RACISM AT CNN: Soledad O’Brien’s CNN show nixed due to being ‘too ethnic’?

More here.

21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Woman Tries To Kill Husband By Poisoning Her Vagina.

AT AMAZON, Digital Deals.

LABORATORIES OF DEMOCRACY: Sen. Ted Cruz invites Chicago banks, gun manufacturers to move to Texas.

ROBERT MENENDEZ UPDATE: Roll Call: “Sen. Robert Menendez denied any wrongdoing as he responded Wednesday to a report that a South Florida ophthalmologist associated with the New Jersey Democrat had his office raided by the FBI. . . . The Miami Herald reported that the FBI raided the office of Dr. Salomon Melgen in West Palm Beach on Tuesday night. The newspaper noted that Melgen has been accused of providing prostitutes to Menendez during travel to the Dominican Republic. Those claims remain unsubstantiated, and the Miami Herald reported that the tipster in the case has refused to meet in person with FBI agents.”

UPDATE: Related: Emails: FBI Wanted to Meet Source of Menendez Prostitution Allegations Before Raid on Donor. I’m not actually sure why Menendez’ cavorting with hookers should, by itself, be of interest to the FBI. But, of course, we don’t know that that’s what’s going on. Perhaps there are questions of bribery or influence-peddling.

MATT K. LEWIS: Why I Hate Twitter. “Twitter has become like high school, where the mean kids say something hurtful to boost their self esteem and to see if others will laugh and join in. . . . When Abraham Lincoln was mad, he would famously write people scathing letters. He would then file them in his desk drawer, never to be sent. Abe was lucky he didn’t have Twitter.”

STATISTICS: Gun-Controlled Britain Has More Than Double U.S. Rape Rate. Why are Democrats pro-rape?